Priorities:CMR Institute of Technology Student Priorities

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To create inter-disciplinary approaches in the curriculum.

We have identified that inter-disciplinary approach would be more effective uni-disciplinary learning to improve the I&E culture on campus.

  • Providing students with inter-disciplinary assignments.

Assignments can be provided to students which need them to collaborate with students from other disciplines to complete the same. These assignments can be an add on to the existing assignments, and the topics need not be a part of the syllabus. Target date: This can be implemented from the start of the coming semester (February 2017)

  • Inter-disciplinary projects

Students will be encouraged to form a team with students from multiple disciplines to have a more complete approach to the project. This will not only aid in reaching solutions quicker but also coming up with more efficient solutions. Target date: This can be implemented immediately.

  • Introducing Electives of various disciplines

Electives like ‘Project management’, ‘Product design’, ‘Entrepreneurship 101’, ‘Basic law’ can be offered to students based on interest. This gives them the opportunity to learn the basics of other disciplines and to widen their perspective while also equipping them with a greater ability to arrive at solutions. They would be in a better position to collaborate moving forward. Target date: We look to implement this by the first quarter of 2018.

  • Introducing maker-centric classes

Introducing maker-centric classes will pave way for a shift from the current ‘sage on the stage approach’ to provide students with a more hands on learning. We believe this would be a more effective approach to learning while increasing chances to create innovation. This would also give students a rough overview of how problems are solved in the real world. This would also include competitions such as Makeathons, buildathons etc. Target date: We look to create a makeathon in the coming semester (February 2017 to June 2017).

Helping students in need of financial assistance.

We have identified that financial burdens can restrict a student from exploring opportunities and we want to change it starting with one student at a time.

  • Creating a circle of life for the students

We look to create a system we call the ‘Circle of life’. This is how the system would work: 1. The college management provides need based scholarships along with the current merit based scholarships to students. 2.The students who have availed this assistance, once graduated and financially sound, will assist two other students of the college financially. 3. This would create a growing network or assistance sources. 4. Ideally, we will reach a stage where the college itself does not provide financial assistance, but the financial assistance comes purely from the passed-out students.

  • On campus earning opportunities

We want to provide students with an opportunity to earn on campus through various ways such as teacher assistants, library and lab assistants after college hours. This system would completely place responsibility on the student to earn and support themselves. This system has proven to be feasible in campuses elsewhere and talks have already begun to implement it.

Helping students balance academics with entrepreneurship.

  • Introducing flexible time slots

Introducing flexible time slots for classes, lab sessions and exams will be helpful to students involved in entrepreneurship because they’ll be able to attend to tasks related to their startup which could be of utmost importance and not lose track of the classes being taught. This should provide them with the ability to balance between academics and entrepreneurship. This is already present on campus to a small extent. Students with attendance shortage are given the chance to attend a week of extra classes to get their attendance up to the mark. We want to cement this as a program on campus.

  • Setting up entrepreneurial workshops

We want to conduct numerous workshops and some seminars to the students interested in entrepreneurship to give them a more thorough and realistic experience of the whole process of setting up and running a startup. Workshops may include ‘Entrepreneurship 101’, ‘Negotiating’ and similar topics without which one is ill equipped to take on challenges in the real world.

  • Making the incubation centre more active

This may be interrelated to further developing the whole I&E culture on campus. We look to make the centre more active by increasing the frequency of meetings and other such tasks. But this is only possible if the number of start-ups increases. This would remain as a task for the future.   

Enabling students who did not qualify for campus placements to find jobs.

  • Skill identifying and development program

We understand that a student might me more than capable to handling the expectations of a job, but might not even qualify for the interview due to insufficient marks. This results in loss of potential talent. In some cases, the student fails to secure the necessary marks due to a below average performance in one test, again which maybe be due to unforeseen circumstances. The idea is to guide the students in identifying their string points and talents which may be necessary for a job, and developing it, thus making the candidate more appealing to the employer. If not, the candidate might even choose to use the skill to their own economic value, i.e., to take upon business opportunities and choosing not to be employed.

  • Providing certificate courses

By providing certificate courses which maybe either online or offline, the student can be well versed in a software/process immediately making him/her more employable. Since it is a certification course, it will involve testing before handing the candidate a certificate. This acts as a trustworthy factor for the employer.

  • Training from year 1

A part of the student population which starts their studies at college lose their interest and their attitude changes as they progress to the senior years. Although there are multiple factors contributing to this, we feel that by maintain their interest in the course and ensuring that they don’t lose sight of their goals, the employment rates would be higher.   

Bridging the cultural barrier and promoting inclusivity among students

  • Orientation programme for freshers

By conducting orientation programs right at the start of the college, mainly for freshers, we may help students understand the sentiments and restrictions of other cultural groups better. This would pave way for a smoother transition into college, and enable everyone to understand and respect other cultures and religions.

  • Celebration of ethnic day and all festivals

This program is already present on campus and we are only looking to enhance it. Ethnic day is one day when all students and faculty come dressed in clothes representing their cultural background, It is a very vibrant and cheerful day, and everyone can witness the cultural diversity present. We want to arrange for this to happen more than once a year. The other idea is to organize a ‘culture-con’ where students must come dressed in the attire of some other culture! While we do celebrate all major festivals on campus, we also want to celebrate the festivals of some minorities to ensure they don’t feel left out. Overall this strategy would bring about religious and cultural tolerance while reducing any friction that might exist and thus promote inclusivity.

 Related Links 

CMR Institute of Technology-Campus Overview

CMR Institute of Technology-Landscape Canvas

Priyanka Srivastava 

Asher John Sathya

Abhay Rangan

Pitch Video

Related links